


The Perils of Double Dating

by IceboundEmu



Category: LoveLink (Video Game)
Genre: But may just take them both anyway, Darker Marco, F/M, I Tried, I still can't write Sally in a nice way, I wrote this whilst waiting for an update, M/M, MC gets a choice in who to date, Marco is not Oblivious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:22:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27634049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceboundEmu/pseuds/IceboundEmu
Summary: Marco is not oblivious to Sally and her treatment of him, but knows that leaving her won't end well for Taylor.So he hatches a plan, sign up to Lovelink, find Taylor a date, let him fall in love, then sort out his own life.Seems simple right? Fate has other plans.
Relationships: Marco Bottazzi/Sally, Marco/MC - Relationship, Taylor/MC - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have accepted that I cannot write a story containing Sally without making her the bad person in this. Not do I believe she should go skipping off into the sunset with Taylor.
> 
> 10 years messing with the hearts of 2 men does not make for a good foundation for a relationship.
> 
> At the same time I loathe the oblivious Marco I was presented with. So I attempted to write him with a spine and a supportive family.
> 
> Would still prefer to date Taylor, but since that isn't going to happen I wrote it instead.

“I’ll see you later!”

The cheery farewell was followed moments later by the sound of the front door slamming shut. Rolling his eyes at the noise Marco waited until he heard Sally starting the car and backing out the drive before he bothered with a response.

“Not if I see you first”

Knowing that she’d be gone until at least early evening with whatever high brow activity she’d organised with Taylor he settled back onto the settee, stretching out the full length of the furniture as he waited for his phone to download the Lovelink app. Not for the first time he wondered how oblivious Sally assumed he was. 

In the ten years he had been with her and the seven they'd been engaged for, he had worked out that he was not actually her type, hell, after the initial attraction faded and the last of the butterflies died he wondered if she’d ever really been his type either. His only problem was he had also realised that she was entirely the type of Taylor, and with a rising horror, she was not oblivious to that.

At the thought of his best friend he felt something in him soften.

He had met Taylor on his first day of school and had been firm friends with him from then on. Taylor had been placed into foster care from a young age and followed him like a shadow, watching the world with frightened eyes. As only child and painfully shy he was overawed by Marco’s extended family and his 7 siblings. True to his family’s style Taylor had rapidly been adopted and fawned over as an honorary member of the Bottazzi Clan.

His mother still tended to ask about Taylor before she asked how he was when she called, not that he held that against her. Anyone meeting Taylor, assuming they had a kind heart, was struck by an urge to protect him from the world’s evils.

Which included now protecting Taylor from himself and his terrible taste in women. Marco had always been aware that Taylor was sweet on Sally, hell, it had been Taylor feeding him the plot of some overcomplicated book that that convinced Sally to date him. But Taylor was in love with the rose-tinted vision of an idol he had pined over from afar for ten years. Marco was living with the very real nightmare of a woman who held herself to be intellectually superior and treated him like a live in domestic.

That was ignoring the emotional affair she was having with his best friend who she met up with or chatted to every single day, they attended lectures together, visited galleries and met up regularly to lunch. Not that he would be happy to take Taylor's place, most of what Sally thought as enjoyable bored him to tears.

Cutting back on that bitter chain of thought he noted with satisfaction that the app had finally finished installing. Time for the first phase of his plan to get back at Sally and hopefully (though not likely, his mind helpfully supplied) un-snaring Taylor from her grasp. First thing was first, to plunge into the world of dating again and find his best friend a date of his own. Entering his information and selecting a profile picture that showed Taylor in the best light he steeled himself for what was to come.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Seriously Marco, my sweet baby brother, how the hell do you put up with her? I’d have hit her with a shovel and buried her under the patio years ago. Do us all a favour and kick her to the curb.”

Marco resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Bella’s melodramatics, his elder sister always had a love of the overdramatic and his ongoing saga with Sally provided her with more than enough entertainment. Motioning at her to lower her voice, lest she was overheard by Taylor, who’d wandered into the back garden, he turned to face her, noting that his mother was making no move to reproach her eldest for her insensitivity.

They were supposed to be having dinner this evening with his family, but Sally had dropped Taylor off from some lecture and cried off, claiming to have a headache. If he’d tried the same at one of her family events, he’d have heard about it for the next month, the thought made him grind his teeth in frustration.

“It’s not that simple Bella.”

Though he’d spoken to all his family about the problems he’d been experiencing with Sally he’d skirted round some of the more delicate subjects to spare Taylor a grilling.

“Why not?”

Apparently, Bella wasn’t going to let it drop.

“Because if he breaks up with her then she’ll take up with Taylor and make his life a living hell.”

Marco was sure his jaw hit the floor as his mother spoke.

“Mom? How long have you?”

His mother scoffed, waving away his question.

“I’m not blind or stupid Marco.”

Motioning at his sister to take over at the stove, his mother enveloped him in a crushing hug and Marco let himself relax into the embrace feeling the tension leave as the realisation if his mother know it was likely the rest of the rest of the family, Bella aside (who would have said something directly to Sally regarding it), were probably also aware. Which meant he now had allies he could confide his plan to. Still he thought, it couldn’t hurt just to confirm.

“So, everyone?”

His mother nodded.

“You know Taylor’s done nothing right?”

He got a smack with a wooden spoon for that one.

“That boy worships the ground you walk on! Don’t you even dare to suggest we’d think he would hurt you like that!”

“Sorry Mama…I wasn’t thinking straight.”

She softened a little at that, give him another tight hug to remove some of the sting from her rebuke.

“So, have you thought what you’re going to do about it?”

Ever practical, his mother moved onto attempting to resolve the problem.

“I signed up for a dating app, I figure if I can find someone else for Taylor to fall in love with, once he’s settled in with them, I can leave Sally.”

“Ooo! Evil Marco! I love it!”

Bella cut into their conversation again and got the wooden spoon for her pains. Once his mother was satisfied no further sarcasm would be forthcoming, she turned back, beaming with happiness.

“That’s a lovely idea Marco, I knew I’d raised a sweet, sensitive boy. Now go and rescue Taylor from your father before he talks his ear off about his tomatoes”

He glanced up and realised Taylor had made the error of wandering too close to the greenhouse and was now receiving a lecture from his father who was punctuating his statements with a trowel his waved around for dramatic effect. Taylor’s expression was half glazed incomprehension and half terror at the metal implement swung in front of his face.

He headed out the back, shouting for Taylor and breaking his father’s verbal stream, not oblivious to the relief in Taylor’s expression as he hurried over.

He really, really needed this plan to work.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The world of online dating was like jumping into a shark tank.

You rolled your eyes as you swiped left on yet another glamorised picture of some airhead pouting at a camera, not even bothering to read the profile as you realised with horror contained almost entirely text speak and emojis. What was it about online dating that brought out the 15-year-old in people?

It had been six months since you had signed up for Lovelink, hopeful that you could enjoy a good time with like-minded people. What had followed was a sharp learning curve in identifying catfish, those out to have an affair and people out for “no-strings attached fun” which experience told you always ended in tears.

The next photo in the stream gave you reason to pause. Mainly because it showed two people in the photo. Interest piqued you clicked into the profile, reading the by-line with interest.

**Marco Bottazzi**

**Don’t worry, only one of us needs a date! If you pick the right one, then it’s meant to be!**

You allowed yourself a moment to wonder which one of them was looking for a date, the brown eyed brunette looked like fun, but the grey eyed one just screamed vulnerability, you couldn’t imagine him being the one who’d signed up to the app. Either way, it had to be worth a shot.

Hoping for the best you swiped the profile right, punching the air in victory when it flipped to a confirmation screen that your mystery man was also interested in speaking to you.


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn’t until he settled down on his parent’s sofa later that Marco realised that he had a notification saying he’d got another potentially interested match. By that point, Taylor, anesthetised by the combined effects of a good meal and a couple of glasses of wine had curled up into his side and dozed off, Marco had already dropped Sally a text to say he’d be staying at his parents since he’d overindulged, she hadn’t bothered with a response, which probably meant he’d be expected to turn up tomorrow with an apology.

He was also keeping a cautious eye on his two younger sisters, who looked to be plotting something, they certainly kept shooting glances at the sleeping Taylor that meant they were probably going to wait till he was unguarded and give him a “makeover”. Last time they’d used some sort of glittery eyeshadow that had taken hours to remove and had led to them both being covered with the hideous sparkly stuff for days after.

Keeping one arm round Taylor to steady him whilst he slept, he used his free hand to unlock his phone and load up the app. He didn’t hold out much hope, every previous match had seemed to think he was hunting for some sort of group sex encounter or just been fishing for a source of dirty photos. They’d all been blocked. 

He swiped right on the latest one to register an interest keeping his fingers crossed. The screen lit up, indicating a match, before a conversation screen loaded. Three dots in the bottom corner indicated his match was already writing a message to him.

_Hi!_

_Glad we matched._

_But I must ask, what’s with the Photo?_

_Hi, Nice to meet you too!_

_The photo is of me and my Best Friend Taylor._

_He’s the reason I’m on this app._

_He signed you up?_

_No, I signed up._

_I’m looking for a date for him._

_I’m engaged to be married._

Marco had always resolved to get that out of the way as soon as possible, just so any potential match knew exactly what they were signing up for. This was usually the point where the conversation dropped off, at least those looking for a multiple partner hook up, or they’d say something obscene.

_Okay then, that’s kind of sweet of you._

_Why isn’t Taylor looking himself?_

_He has terrible taste in women._

_Plus, he sabotages his own relationships._

_Ouch._

_You aren’t really selling him here._

Marco read what he’d written and winced, he’d really thrown Taylor under a bus there. Time to abandon any attempt at being subtle.

_Okay, so I need to be completely honest with you._

_Please don’t tell me this is some weird threesome thing?_

_What? LOL! No!_

_Taylor needs saving from himself._

_He’s in love with my fiancée, or the idea of her._

_She knows it._

_She’s using him to get what she can’t from me._

_If I leave her, she’ll take him and she’ll destroy him._

They hadn’t immediately blocked him, which he could only think was a good sign?

_…_

_Okay then._

_That was a lot more than I was expecting_

_Sorry about that._

_Honestly, you’re the first person who hasn’t immediately asked for nudes._

_Or for a threesome._

_So, you’re the first person I’ve explained this to._

_If you want to leave and never speak to me again, I’ll understand._

Again, there was no notification to indicate he’d been blocked, just the appearance of three dots in the corner indicating that another message was being typed.

_So, which one are you?_

_In the photo?_

_Brown eyes, brown hair._

_So, Taylor is the grey eyed cutie?_

_He looks so young._

_He’s always had a baby face._

_So, am I to take the fact you haven’t headed for the hills as a good sign?_

_I’ll think about it._

_Unrequited love sucks._

_You’ve given me a lot to think about._

_Can I speak to you tomorrow?_

Sounded like there was a story there for another day.

_Sure, it was nice speaking to you._

_Before I go, just one last question._

_What’s your fiancée’s name?_

_Sally, why do you ask?_

_It’s always better to have a name for something bad_

_Speak to you soon!_

_Bye!_

_Bye!_

With that the icon greyed out and Marco was left wondering whether he’d speak to them again. As he put the phone down Taylor started and jerked himself awake, blinking at him in sleepy confusion.

"Ugh...Where am I?"

Marco chuckled and pressed a kiss onto Taylor's forehead, which turned into a laugh as his friend squawked in protest and flailed at him.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You sat back on your heels, running the conversation you’d just had through your head and wondering whether you should pinch yourself to make sure that you hadn’t dreamed it. 

Whatever you’d been expecting from this match, it hadn’t been something that resonated so strongly with your own experiences.

It was the reason you were sitting here on Lovelink, having moved halfway across the country six months ago to escape your own nightmare, when you realised the source of your affections was only twisting your feelings for what he could gain from the relationship, which mainly took the form of him taking credit for your work and bagging a promotion that by all rights should have been yours. 

Then from out of the woodwork emerged the pretty wife and the loving family. In that moment you saw yourself as he did and loathed what you’d become.

If you could save someone else from feeling that way surely that could only be a good thing?

Then why were you left with a sense of foreboding?


End file.
